


Learning to Fly

by riyakataria



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Bottom!Carmilla, Eventual Smut, F/F, Multi, top!Laura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-07-22 17:02:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7446994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riyakataria/pseuds/riyakataria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hollis is the CEO of Silas Industries. Carmilla is the head flight attendant on the luxury airlines, Alchemy Airlines. When the two get off on the wrong foot on a 12 hour flight, only disaster can result from that… right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my very first fan-fiction ever, so I really hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think and whether I should continue. Thank you!
> 
> Disclaimer: none of these characters are mine

Laura tapped her foot impatiently and tightened her grip on her suitcase. Her flight had been delayed, again. As if having to get on a 12 hour flight to Austria wasn't bad enough. Now her board of advisers would chastise her for making a bad impression on their new clients. 

_Good afternoon. An announcement to those who are flying on Alchemy Airlines Flight 249B: The flight has been delayed until 7 PM. We apologize for the inconvenience._

Laura glanced at her watch and groaned. Four more hours. She was definitely going to get yelled at by her advisers. She slowly walked away from the waiting area, looking for a coffee shop instead. Finally, she found a secluded Starbucks in the corner of the terminal. She got her grande caramel latte and grabbed a seat towards the corner. Taking a sip out of the piping hot drink, she pulled her laptop out and immediately opened her emails. 

_Five new emails_ , the screen showed. Laura sighed and pulled up the first one. After a few minutes of staring at the same line of text over and over again, she sighed and opted to Skype her girlfriend again. Her girlfriend picked up on the first ring. 

“Hey honey.”

“Hey Danny.” Laura smiled, seeing the face of her extremely tall girlfriend. Danny had on a pair of overalls that were splattered with paint, signaling the fact that she was working on a new art project. Laura just hoped that Danny wouldn't get paint all over the apartment like last time. 

“What's up? You look stressed.” Danny always seemed to be able to read her girlfriend perfectly. Laura smiled at how sweet she was. 

“Nothing… the flight got delayed for a couple of hours and I just got bored while waiting,” Laura explained. 

They soon started having a steady conversation. It went on for about an hour, and fizzled out after some time. Laura uttered a quick “love you!” to her girlfriend and ended the call. 

She didn't know if she was in love with Danny, but she definitely felt safe with her. It was a relationship built on mutual trust and understanding, and they had gotten to a point where they worked together well. Plus, it would look bad for her image of a “perfect CEO” if she broke up with her three-year girlfriend. 

Laura sighed. Silas Industries was doing great. They were bringing in great revenue, and the company had gotten a good name. However, Laura knew that this deal in Austria would set her future in stone. She had to be well-prepared and ready to get what she wanted. Otherwise, she may as well say goodbye to her company. 

Gathering her things, Laura stood up and started walking back to the waiting area. As she was walking away from the cafe, she collided with someone and felt a hot liquid running down the front of her white shirt. Shit. 

Laura stumbled back to see a black haired woman--and holy hufflepuff she was hot. She was slightly taller than Laura, and had black eyes that seemed to stare right into you. She arched one perfect eyebrow and looked at Laura up and down. 

“Next time, watch where you're going cutie.”

Laura couldn't believe this woman. “What? You're the one who spilled whatever this is down my shirt. My white shirt!”

The woman leaned close to Laura and whispered in her ear, “Just take the shirt off cutie. You'll look better without it.” She straightened up, winked at Laura, and walked away. 

Laura couldn't believe it. The nerve of some people. She huffed and made her way to the nearest bathroom, where she stripped out of her white blouse and put on a shirt with little giraffes all over it instead. After fixing her hair and makeup, she walked out and took a deep breath. No one was going to ruin this day for her. Not even if they spilled a piping hot drink on her. Not even if they were extremely hot and sarcastic and h--no one!

-

Two hours later, Laura finally heard the announcement she'd been waiting for. 

_An announcement to those flying on Alchemy Airlines, Flight 249B to Austria: First-class is now boarding. Please come up to the front and have your passport and boarding pass ready._

Laura stood up and hurriedly made her way to the front. After getting her passport and ticket scanned, she made her way to the airplane. She was still a little bit annoyed by the coffee devil--as Laura had started to call her--but she wasn't going to let anyone ruin her flight right now. 

At least she was on the plane. After showing her ticket to one of the flight attendants and getting pointed in the right direction, Laura made her way to her seat. She sat down, adjusted herself, and took a deep breath. 

“Hello ma’am, is ever--are you kidding me?”

Laura looked up at who was talking to her and gasped involuntarily. It was the so-called coffee devil. Now dressed in a navy blue dress with a matching hat, she looked even more sexy than she did before. Laura squinted at the name tag that read Carmilla and looked back up. 

“You know cupcake, if you wanted to spend some more time with me, you could've just asked.” 

This was going to be a long flight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura gets angrier and Carmilla gets snarkier.

Laura had been on this flight for two hours, and she was already sick of it. There was the whole thing with her not doing very well with heights, and that was a problem, but that wasn’t it. It was the fact that the flight attendant that had been assigned to her happened to be the same one that was incredibly rude to her before the flight. Carmilla was her name, and pushing Laura to her limits seemed to be her favorite activity this flight. Already she had made multiple flirty comments and annoyed--no-- _infuriated_ Laura to no end. It didn’t help that Carmilla was extremely attractive and Laura was very aware of that. She buried her head in her hands and groaned in frustration. Just 10 more hours, she told herself.

“Woah there cupcake. You look pretty stressed out. Do you need any help getting rid of some of that stress. I’d be very happy to offer my services.” Laura already knew who was there, and didn’t bother looking.

“Go away Carmilla. Go bother someone else.” Laura finally looked up at Carmilla while telling her off. Carmilla simply smirked and gestured to the giant cart that Laura had just noticed.

“I was just asking if you wanted any drinks. That is to say, any drinks that aren’t spilled down your shirt.” Carmilla cracked a smile at her own comment. Laura looked at the cart wearily, not wanting to accept anything from Carmilla. However, she was craving her daily sugar intake, and she supposed that Carmilla wouldn’t spill her drink again. She asked for a hot chocolate, which Carmilla gave to her with, yet another, flirty wink. Laura sighed and leaned back in her seat. She wasn’t sure that she could get through this flight without strangling Carmilla.

-

An hour later, Laura was up on her feet. She followed the brightly illuminated signs to the bathroom. She had been drafting some reports for the past hour while sipping on her admittedly delicious hot chocolate when she couldn’t ignore the pull. She hated walking on planes, especially when there was turbulence going on. 

Laura was pulled back to the present when the plane shook slightly and she stumbled. She prayed that she could just get to the bathroom and back without falling, but she had no such luck. A few moments later, the plane shook even more violently, and Laura fell. Thankfully, she was caught by a pair of strong arms that lifted her upright after a second. 

“Hey cupcake, at least buy me dinner first.” Carmilla grinned widely as she saw Laura’s face into one of malice. “That scrunched up face you make when you're angry is hilarious, buttercup.” Laura stared daggers at Carmilla. 

“My. Name. Is. Laura.” she hissed as she pushed herself away from Carmilla. “Not cutie, not cupcake, and definitely not buttercup.” Carmilla’s grin only grew wider. 

“Whatever you say… cupcake.”

“I want to talk to the head flight attendant. Maybe they'll let me have someone other than you.” Laura reasoned. 

“You're talking to her right now. And sorry cutie, but there's no switching right now.”

Laura walked away, fuming. She wanted to strangle the annoyingly hot attendant, but not in front of so many witnesses. She managed to get to the bathroom and back without causing a scene again, but she was still seething when she sat down. 

-

“We meet again, creampuff. Now, what do you want for dinner?” Carmilla’s voice managed to pierce through Laura’s headphones. 

Laura didn't even bother looking at Carmilla while asking for a dairy vegetarian meal. She took the tray and ate in silence while watching the episode of Doctor Who in front of her. A few minutes later, she saw someone place a box in front of her with a note saying _‘A cupcake for my cupcake :-)’_ Laura rolled her eyes, but she wasn't going to put a perfectly good sugary treat to waste. After finishing her food (and licking her fingers clean), she saw someone take her tray away, enabling her to lean her seat back and take a short nap. 

Laura woke up after a while and was pleasantly surprised that there was only two hours left in the flight. She was ready to face the day, and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin the rest of her time, especially Carmilla. She completely ignored her every time the flight attendant tried to talk to her, and she could tell how frustrated Carmilla was by this. Finally, Laura heard the static of the loudspeaker and the pilot giving an announcement:

_‘Good morning passengers! This is Captain Ell speaking, and I hope you've had a good flight. We will be starting to land shortly, so please fasten your seatbelts, and thank you for flying Alchemy Airlines!’_

Laura sighed with relief as she buckled her seatbelt. Being the CEO of Silas Industries was a stressful job, but some parts of it could be nice. However, this flight was not one of those parts at all. She had gone through absolute hell in these past couple of hours. She had to face her fear of heights, her motion sickness, and worst of all: Carmilla. Laura laughed quietly as she thought about how annoyed Carmilla was getting each time she was ignored by Laura. Carmilla hadn’t made any attempts to talk to her for the past few minutes, she noticed. She hoped that it meant that Carmilla was going to stop bothering her by now. Laura smirked and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes.

“Cupcake?”

Laura groaned inwardly. She thought she’d gotten rid of the annoyingly hot flight attendant, but no such luck. She kept her eyes shut and hoped that Carmilla would just walk away.

“Laura?”

Laura’s eyes flew open as she heard Carmilla say her name in a less than snarky tone. She looked at Carmilla, who was looking at her with pleading eyes. She seemed… sad.

“Laura, did I do something wrong?” Laura looked at Carmilla incredulously. Surely she was joking! But Carmilla kept looking at her a questioning look. 

“Oh, I don’t know, let me see. You spilled coffee down my shirt, you unnecessarily flirt with me all the time, and you’ve only used my real name about twice. Nope, nothing wrong there!” Laura’s voice came out sharper than she intended, and Carmilla visibly winced at those words. Laura knew she should apologize, but for some reason, she really wanted the message to sink in. Carmilla took a shaky breath and responded,

“Look, I’m really sorry. I can get a little bit… over-the-top I guess. I really didn’t mean to annoy you that much. Can we… start over?” Carmilla looked at Laura with pleading eyes and Laura softened up a bit. She supposed she was being kind of unfair to Carmilla. After all, here was Carmilla, trying to apologize. Laura sighed and held out her hand.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Laura Hollis.”

Carmilla broke out into the first genuine smile that Laura had seen from her. She clasped Laura’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you too. I’m Carmilla.” Laura raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have a last name?”

“I have to keep my air of mystery somehow, don’t I… cupcake?”

“You’re not going to call me Laura anytime soon, are you?”

“Not if I can help it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the chapters will get longer as the story goes on! If you have any constructive criticism, leave a comment! If you liked the story, leave kudos! As always, thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura finally hang out, and LaF makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look who finally updated! I'm really sorry guys. Life has been moving pretty quickly for me, but I'll try to update faster. Even if the updates may be slow, I'll keep working on this story.

Laura was completely done with her job.

Yeah, sure, being CEO had its perks. People literally worshipped her, she could create her own schedule, and the income wasn’t that bad. But sometimes Laura just wanted to jump off the roof of 23-story building. Now was one of those times.

“Ms. Hollis, I really need your approval to set up these three locations. I feel like these will do well, especially since there’s no other competitors nea-”

“Yes, yes, do what you need. You have my approval.” Laura waved off the woman that was talking to her over Skype. Her name was Elsie or something, and she had been talking about these new locations for the past hour. Laura was halfway bored to death. Elsie just kept talking, however, and at this point, Laura just tuned her out. Her thoughts flashed back to the flight a few days before instead. 

After Laura and Carmilla had made up, they spent a good half an hour talking before Carmilla had to return to her duties. They didn’t have much in common, but their differences just made the conversation even more entertaining. Laura talked about Doctor Who and Harry Potter and her obsession with sugar. Once or twice, she caught Carmilla staring at her, which confused the heck out of Laura, because she didn't _think_ she had anything on her face. 

Carmilla, on the other hand, told her about her job and how _awkward_ it was since she had dated the pilot before. But she needed the money so she stuck with her job. Laura sympathized with her, since she had dated her VP of Communications before. They had both laughed about that, and continued talking until the pilot announced the arrival and Carmilla had to return to her job. Before running off, however, Carmilla had taken Laura's phone and put her number into it. 

“-Ms Hollis?” Elsie’s voice pulled Laura back to the dreary office. 

“Like I said, I approve. I'm sorry, but I must go. I have a meeting.” Laura waved Elsie off and ended the call. Just three more hours till the workday was over, and then she'd be free. But free to do what exactly? She groaned at her lack of a social life. 

“Hey frosh!” 

Laura grinned. She'd completely forgotten about LaFontaine, the COO. 

“Hey frosh, you look bored. How much longer until you get off?” They planted their hands into Laura’s desk

“Just a couple of hours left Laf. Why? Did Perry kick you out again?”

They grinned. “Yeah, she loves me, but she hates how talkative I am. Oh! Speaking of Perry and I…”

LaFontaine pulled out a letter and handed it to Laura, who squealed when she saw what it was. 

“Laf! You proposed!”

LaFontaine grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I figured it was time. So I did it on our anniversary, and she said yes!”

Laura hugged LaFontaine as hard as she could. They hugged her back with equal force and when they pulled apart, Laura could see how happy LaFontaine was. 

“Anyway,” LaFontaine continued, “I was wondering if you could come to this party? It's not a big deal or anything. We're just formally announcing our engagement.”

Laura nodded vigorously. “Of course I'm coming!”

LaFontaine grinned. “That's great frosh. Oh, and you're allowed to bring a plus one, so I expect you to have a hot girl with you on that day.”

Laura giggled and playfully shoved them. 

“Anyway, I've got to get back back to Perry, so I'll see you later.” LaFontaine waved goodbye. 

“Tell Perry I said hi!” Laura yelled at LaFontaine as they left. 

She sighed and went back to work. LaFontaine was a welcome distraction from the monotony of the office, but they couldn't stick around for the entire time. 

_‘Screw it,’_ Laura thought, while taking out her phone. 

_Hey Carm, this is Laura. You know, the girl from the plane?_

Laura put her phone down, only to pick it up a moment later when she heard the notification. 

**Carmeleon.** _Hey cutie. Glad you finally texted me. I thought you keeled over from all the sugar you were eating on the flight._

**Nerdy Cupcake.** _Just so you know, I'm rolling my eyes at you right now_

**Carmeleon.** _Right. So, what's the occasion cupcake? Why'd you text me?_

**Nerdy Cupcake.** _I was thinking, you know, we could, like, hang out together. Like meet up and do something. If you're busy that's fine, I just, it was an idea and, I mean, if you can't then that's okay._

**Carmeleon.** _Woah creampuff, calm down. I didn't think it was possible to ramble over text, but I stand corrected._

**Nerdy Cupcake.** _:P_

**Carmeleon.** _Okay, let's meet up for dinner. There's this one great restaurant nearby. I'll pick you up at 7. Just text me the address of your building._

**Nerdy Cupcake.** _Yeah, seven works for me! I just want to stop doing all this work lol_

**Carmeleon.** _Please don't tell me you just used the word ‘lol’ willingly…_

**Carmeleon.** _We’ll discuss your literary sin over dinner. Goodbye creampuff._

**Nerdy Cupcake.** _Bye!_

Laura set her phone down, smiling at the exchange. Just an hour left, and then she'd go get ready for dinner with Carmilla. 

-

Laura was freaking out. She had _nothing_ to wear. She had been pacing in front of the closet for the past half an hour, and she needed to get dressed now. Frustrated with herself, she grabbed the nearest thing she saw. After throwing it on and adjusting her makeup, she ran out and into the elevator, only to crash into a leather-clad figure. 

“You know cupcake, usually when someone falls into my arms once, I can call it a mistake. But this is your second time…”

Laura groaned as she looked up to see Carmilla and _wow_ , she looked amazing. 

“Well, don't you look like a virgin sacrifice.” Carmilla smirked as she looked at Laura’s white off-the-shoulder dress. 

“At least I'm not wearing a corset, which, _wow_ …” Laura trailed off as she takes her eyes over Carmilla's body. Carmilla gave Laura a genuine smile and reached her hand out. 

“As much as I'd love for you to stand and ogle at me for the next hour, we have a reservation and we really should get going. Shall we?” Laura took Carmilla's hand and laced her fingers through them effortlessly as they headed for Carmilla's car. 

-

After a short car ride with Laura chatting animatedly the entire way, the two women reached the restaurant. However, when Laura saw the name of the restaurant, her mouth fell open.

“ _Carm!_ You got a reservation at Delgado’s? This is one of the most prestigious restaurants nearby!” 

“Only the best for you, cupcake. Plus, I've got connections.”

Laura look at Carmilla with disbelief, but soon followed her into the restaurant. After being seated and served two glasses of ludicrously expensive champagne, they got their orders taken. 

“So cupcake, what's your story?”

Laura looked at Carmilla with confusion. “What?”

“Your story. Who are you as a person? What are your dreams? Hopes? Fears? What makes Laura, Laura?”

Laura laughed nervously. “Well, um, I'm the CEO of Silas Industries, something I've built up since I was 16. I live with my girlfriend Danny and I- Carm, are you okay?”

Carmilla had stiffened up at the mention of Danny. She unclenched her jaw and nodded slowly. “Go on.”

“Okay… well, Danny and I have been dating for three years now, and…” Laura trailed off, not sure how to describe how she felt about Danny. 

“You're not in love with her.” Carmilla said slowly. Laura's eyes refused to meet Carmilla's, which confirmed her suspicions. “So why are you still with her?”

At that point, their food arrived. Both of them paused for a moment to settle in and take a few bites of their food. Finally, Carmilla raised her eyebrows, urging Laura to continue.

Laura swallowed her food and looked up guiltily. “I mean, I love her, but I'm not _in_ love with her. She's just way too overprotective. I need a girlfriend, not an extra dad. And, I mean, a lot of times she acts like it’s my fault that we fight, and I start believing it. Plus, how would it look like if this business power couple broke up after three years and I just wish that it was easier and- I'm rambling again, aren't I?”

Carmilla just shook her head kindly, and gave her a sad smile. 

“That was me with Ell four years ago. Buttercup, I'm going to say this once, and I hope you'll listen to this. You're in an abusive relationship.” 

Laura opened her mouth to protest, but Carmilla held her hand up. “Cupcake, trust me. You’re going to deny it the first few times, but it’s true. She’s blaming everything on you, and that’s called emotional abuse.”

They ate in silence for a while until they finished. Once the waitress dropped the check off and Carmilla insisted she pay, they broke the silence. Laura looked at Carmilla weakly and started, “Well- I mean, you haven’t- you don’t know her!”

Carmilla just smiled sadly and shook her head, “Just think about it Laura. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”

And they drove home in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos if you liked this chapter, and comment if you have any constructive criticism.


End file.
